Kevin Demoff: Chargers-Rams impasse story is “completely false”

Posted by Mike Florio on January 26, 2016, 11:30 AM EST

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On Monday, Steve Hartman of XTRA Sports 1360 in San Diego stirred up the San Diego relocation story by reporting that an impasse has arisen between the Chargers and Rams regarding the sharing of a stadium in Inglewood.

On Tuesday morning, the Rams went on the record to dispute the report from Hartman, for which he cited an unnamed Rams official.

It’s unclear whether the Chargers and Rams are making progress toward a deal because the Chargers and Rams have agreed not to publicly discuss the situation. And while there are reasons to wonder whether Rams owner Stan Kroenke would be interested in hoarding the L.A. market by driving too hard of a bargain with the Chargers now and the Raiders later, multiple league sources continue to insist that Kroenke has provided assurances that he’ll cooperate with the Chargers, and that the NFL has power to squeeze Kroenke, by for example not giving him Super Bowls or other stuff, if he ultimately freezes out the Chargers and the Raiders.

So, basically, the Rams say there is no impasse. Whether or not a deal ever gets done remains to be seen.

The impasse comes from Spanos thinking he can play both sides against the middle. Kroenke offered him 50% of the ticket take over a month ago and Spanos turned it down, thinking he was the favorite for LA at the time. Now he’s going to use talks with Kroenke to try to bleed something out of San Diego. If we’re lucky, he’ll outsmart himself and the Raider will end up back in LA.

If I’m the Mayor of San Diego, I’m opening very public negotiations with the Raiders. The Raiders moving to SD would decimate the Chargers fan base because locals would switch and LA fans would travel down. Spanos should be terrified of that possibility. My .02

I can’t speak to the believability of withholding them but the owners have shown time and again they are greedy, jealous and vindictive enough to do it. What is completely believable is that the 30 other billionaires involved in the decision didn’t just give Kroenke a carte blanche to control that market. They have safeguards of some type in place

Chargers’ fans should revolt and not go to any games if the Chargers’ ownership decides to play one more year in
San Diego. Basically, the owners would be saying, “come give us your money, but we are outta here next season…”

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ramfanmatt says:
Jan 26, 2016 11:39 AM
As a St Louisan let me tell you Demoff is a known liar. He has zero credibility. If he says the story is false, I’m lead to believe the story is true.
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Nobody knows you from a hole in a wall and everyone will look at your comment and just take you for a bitter rams fan, or former rams fan.

I’m not sure what makes you believe he’s a liar, unless he maybe said once upon a time the Rams would stay in St. Louis. My guess is you’ve never even met Kevin, let alone had a conversation with him to even know what kind of person he truly is.

Moving to L A would be awful for the Chargers. The impasse is no 550m for a relocate. The Raiders aint got that scratch either. Endgam3, Kroenkewood has one team the Richass Rams. The owners told the Raiders and Rams to pound sand weeks ago. The NFL knew Kroenke will pay for his team, so there ya go, follow the money.

Don’t believe a word Demoff is saying. Ever . About anything. He lied to STL for the last three years. Maybe the way Stan sees it they are not at an impasse . Here is the deal , take it or leave it. Stan will get what he wants. I believe the city of San Diego is in a very good bargaining position . Spanos can take a bad deal with LA or come back and negotiate with SD. Where else is he going to go ? Same for Davis . Where can he go ? I don’t believe all the other cities being talked about are really alternatives for these teams to move to. I would love for this to blow up on the NFL. Greed will be the demise of the NFL. Cant keep bleeding everyone dry .

“I can’t speak to the believability of withholding them but the owners have shown time and again they are greedy, jealous and vindictive enough to do it. What is completely believable is that the 30 other billionaires involved in the decision didn’t just give Kroenke a carte blanche to control that market. They have safeguards of some type in place”

Who are you kidding? Stan Kroenke punched them in the nose and stole their lunch money. This whole fiasco is just another nail in the coffin of a once great league.

There are many goodies from Demoff. But let’s start with this one, from a 2012 news conference at Rams Park. Kroenke’s relocation application criticizes the St. Louis fan support. (You’ve got to admit: Kroenke has an abundance of gall, eh?) Demoff spoke the truth.
“There is no excuse for the product that we have put on the field over the past few years and for missing the playoffs for nearly the entire past decade,” Demoff said. “We created our own problems by going 15-65 (between 2007-2011.) If we were winning games our fan base would be more excited. Our attendance problems are the result of us being a lousy team. No excuses, we put ourselves in a hole and winning games is the only way we can get out of it.”
Oddly enough, that didn’t make it into Kroenke relocation application to the NFL this week. Kroenke and his attorney Alan Bornstein must have forgotten to include it. An innocent mistake. Hey, it happens.
— Here’s Demoff in a 2012 interview with the Rams official website: “I know people want to paint a doomsday scenario. But Stan has been emphatic on this point: He didn’t lead the charge to bring the Rams back to St. Louis to lead the charge out of St. Louis. Our goal is to build a winner in St. Louis not only in 2012, but in 2022, 2032 and beyond. This city deserves better NFL football and that is what we are focused on every day.” Demoff is the gift that keeps on giving.
— What about the Edward Jones Dome? It’s the world’s largest dumpster, right?
It’s no place for football. There’s no atmosphere. A team can’t possibly thrive there.
(Just ask the 1999 Rams.)
“If we do our job right, I have no doubt that the Edward Jones Dome will be 66,000 loud and strong and there will be no doubts about St. Louis as a great NFL market,” Demoff said. “We haven’t done our job right over the past few years and I promise you we will get it right.”
— The relocation application suggested, in so many words, that the STL task force, and the stadium authority, and other local entities, were a little sketchy — if not downright unethical.
But a few years ago, when asked why Kroenke purchased a tract of land near Los Angeles (Inglewood) and if it signaled his desire to build his own stadium in the first step of moving the Rams out of St. Louis, here’s what Demoff said: “I promise you Stan is looking at lots of pieces of land around the world right now and none of them are for football stadiums.”
— Mr. Demoff, what about Kroenke’s comments in my 2010 interview when he said that people in our town know he can he be trusted, and that he’s an honorable guy, and that he would attempt to do everything that he could keep the Rams in St. Louis? Change of heart?
“I think when he said what he said (about wanting Rams to stay in St. Louis) when he bought the team, he was sincere, he was genuine,” Demoff said two years ago. “And in the meantime there’s a path and a process that’s behind closed doors, and that’s what we’ve adapted to.”
— About this dead football market in St. Louis, Demoff once compared St. Louis to Seattle. “It’s hard to believe now but the Seattle Seahawks actually moved to Los Angeles for about two weeks in 1996 before returning back to Seattle,” Demoff said. “I don’t think anybody now looks at their (Seattle) fan base and says they’re not passionate, they’re not a great team, that’s not a great market. So these things tend to get worse before they get better and I always look at if we can get this thing done, how do we move forward, how do we build a great stadium, how do we make St. Louis a better place for having a great venue?”
— Here’s more Kevy-Kev, from a 2011 interview on the team’s web site: “Our entire focus is on building a winner in and for St. Louis. The lease issue isn’t what we are focused on,” Demoff said. “We are proud of our fans, proud of our commitment to St. Louis and passionate about building a winner right here.”
— During a 2012 news conference, Demoff was asked about Kroenke’s silence on the Rams’ future.
“I know our fans want to hear more from ownership, but this isn’t necessarily the most appropriate time to discuss the topic before we start talking with the city. Our goal is to build a winning organization on and off the field in St. Louis, and that continues to be the goal for the next year, three years, 10 years, 20 years. Believe me, nobody would be happier than me to announce a long-term agreement to keep the team in St. Louis. We want this team to be successful and win for our fan base that has been loyal to us for so long, including some terrible stretches of football.”
And: “We have great fans who are loyal and want to find ways to stay on board. We want to build a winner in St. Louis for our great fans who have stuck with us through tough times, and you have my pledge we will do everything we can to be successful in St. Louis.”
And: “This is a great sports city and a passionate football fan base and the last thing we want to do is let our fans down who have been so loyal to us.”
Since 2005, the Rams have a .324 winning percentage that ranks 31st among the 32 teams. They haven’t had a winning record since 2003. They haven’t squeaked into the playoffs since their 8-8 wild-card entry in 2004. And now Kroenke is trying to run away with the Rams to Los Angeles — after filing an relocation application that attempted to obliterate the community that enriched him with a remarkable sweetheart lease and deal to bring the Rams from LA to STL in 1995.
Just a thought, but I think this might be a case of letting fans down who have been so loyal to the Rams.
I’ll try to get a ruling on that.
— Before the 2012 season, Demoff once again expressed sympathy for the St. Louis fans and acknowledged that the team had let those fans down. He vowed that things would change.
“We couldn’t be more excited about this season and the returning winning football to St. Louis,” KD said. “There is a lot of noise about the stadium situation, but it’s just that, noise. Our focus is on improving the football team and bringing our long-suffering fans the joy you deserve. Being bad for so long has fractured our fan base — winning will re-unite Rams fans and give them hope. I can’t even fathom letting down our loyal fan base.”
(Anyone seen Baghdad Bob?)
— In the relocation application, Kroenke’s attorney went into a lengthy and humorous dissertation about the Rams’ lease, the “first-tier” requirement for the Edward Jones Dome, and the Rams’ victory over the CVC in the 2012 arbitration. Bornstein concluded that the Rams had no obligation to negotiate with St. Louis beyond that point. The door was closed. Boom.
Demoff apparently disagreed. When asked what would happen if the Rams won that arbitration ruling, he said: “I think the one thing that is important for fans to know is that if the arbitration does not solve the issue, it’s not all gloom and doom from that point. We still have two years left on the lease before it goes year to year and then you’ll get to the point where most cities are when a lease is expiring. Then we just have to sit down and figure out how to get a new lease.”

Stan Kroenke doesn’t care about the fans for the cities, all he’s concerned about is the money. That’s fine and that’s his right, but how could you support a team with an owner like this guy? Good luck fighting for your team to stay in LA in 10 years NFL fans.

It’s a good way to back track when these discussions were supposed to be private. You don’t have to be a genius to know Kroenke has all the power and will eventually get what he wants.. whether it’s having Chargers there or not.

Not saying who is right and who is wrong here. but what I am saying is that anyone that listens to Hartman knows this guy has no problem exaggerating and stretching the truth to the point that some of his co-workers including his current partner have pointed out his pension for twisting peoples comments around.

Had this report been broken by ANYONE else, I might be more likely to believe it.

I’m sure the NFL would withhold a Super Bowl from LA. They’ve already taken probably America’s most decadent party destination (Miami) out of the rotation because their stadium doesn’t have enough bells, whistles and toys.

Spanos is only killing his San Diego fan base by dragging us through the muck. I can’t even describe the feeling I’ve had over the past year and a half (really 7 years if you include all the AIG moving threats). At this point, and I think I can speak on behalf of all San Diego Charger fans, we just want to know the final result. Enough of these daily rumors. If you’re going to leave, then leave Dean. In my head, you already have gone. I went to the final home game at the Q and refused to buy a single cent of merchandise or other tickets this past season as I truly felt they were gone.

Kommishk,
As a former season ticket holder in St Louis I have met Demoff a couple of times. He bold faced lied to our faces multiple times. He knew in 2013 the Rams were for sure going to attempt to move. He kept lying to us. On one hand it was his job to lie to us, on the other hand he no longer has credibility.

Why in the world would the Raiders move 500 miles from their fan base in Oakland to San Diego, pay $550+ in relocation fees, and play in the same old stadium that the Chargers find to be outdated and unsuitable. That’s just dumb.

Hartman is known for hot air.
If the parties involved had one meeting and didn’t finalize anything or come to an agreement, one could parse words to say “they’re at an impasse”. All Steve Hartman knows right now is that his name is being mentioned nationally.

If anyone believes the NFL has any power to make things hard for Kroenke now, I have a bridge to sell you.

The league desperately wanted a team in L.A. They just gave it to a billionaire who was going to do it anyway. Now the league, even more than Kroenke, loses if they don’t take advantage of being there.

In other words, Kroenke’s already done the hardest thing of all, which is moving a team to another city. If the league didn’t stop that, they won’t stop this.

There are going to be two NFL teams in LA because that is what the owners want. Kroenke would much rather have the Chargers as tenants than the Raiders. The few Chargers fans that are left are not loyal and will not travel. The fact is that there are more Raiders fans in Southern California then there are Rams fans. When both teams left LA after the 1994 season the Rams fan base died while the Raiders fan base continued to grow. Wait till the Rams play the Raiders in Los Angeles and you will see the Raiders fan base out number the Rams 4 to 1. Same goes for the Chargers. Southern California is Raiders country and it continues to grow stronger and stronger every year. Mark Davis is in a great position. He wins either way. If the Chargers move to LA he will relocate his team to San Diego and negotiate with a city who is willing to build him a new stadium. If the Chargers stay home than the Raiders move to LA which will be a nightmare for Kroenke and the Raiders will dominate Los Angeles fan base. The Raiders will always be number 1 in Southern California followed by the Rams. San Diego will be the third wheel no matter where they go. Southern Californians identify more with the Raiders than any other NFL team.

ramfanmatt………You are exactly what the NFL and the Rams organization is looking for. They want you to believe every word they say. Doesn’t matter if its true or not just give us your money. Do what we say. Im sure you know Demoff and are close to him. Im sure you have read all of the quotes attributed to him through out the last 5 years. He lied every time he spoke. No one is making that up. Its in print. It came from his mouth. And yes I am , along with every other St. Louis Rams fan , disgruntled and pissed off at the the King of California ( Stan ) , Demoff , the Rams organization and the NFL for misleading and not dealing with STL in a fair way. You will be very happy with that stand up organization, just keep sending money.

If I’m the Mayor of San Diego, I’m opening very public negotiations with the Raiders. The Raiders moving to SD would decimate the Chargers fan base because locals would switch and LA fans would travel down. Spanos should be terrified of that possibility. My .02
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Agreed. With the Rams now in LA, and then a Raider move to San Diego… that would effectively kill off the “LA” Chargers. Sandwiched in between both the Rams and the Raiders in So Cal. The Raiders already have a fan base in San Diego and would pick up fair weather Chargers leftovers. The Rams will own LA. And the non Rams fans in LA are not Charger fans they are Raider fans. Spanos should stay in San Diego and use the “staying put”money from the NFL to get something done there, and then hope and pray that Kroenke and the Raiders cant get a deal done to bring the Raiders south to LA.

Stlouisfan, I don’t think you read anything I wrote. I’m also from St Louis and am well aware of Demoff’s lying nature. I stated so in my first post. I agree with everything you said about Demoff. Unfortunately for LA they got one of the worst organizations in football and an owner who doesn’t care about winning, only profits.

I have been a Chargers season ticket holder since 1978. The fan base has been mad for years and the result is Qualcomm is now a neutral field with no home field advantage.

So riddle me this. Since it’s obvious the Chargers were “all in” to bolt to L.A. – and can’t be trusted to negotiate in “good faith” to stay in San Diego unless they get $350 million (or more) in taxpayer money that – according to polls – voters WON’T approve – why can’t the City of San Diego just terminate the Chargers’ year-by-year optional renewal lease (which ends in 2020) to use Qualcomm Stadium? Why not SHUT them out until they formally commit to San Diego?

The Chargers have until March 23 to let the NFL know if it will move to the L.A. Coliseum in 2016. It also has until May 1 to notify the City of San Diego that it will use Qualcomm in 2016. If it’s optimistic a deal can be reached with Stan, it will play in the Coliseum in 2016 and give San Diego a $15 million lease termination fee, which is small potatoes anyway.

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer said the City is willing to re-start negotiations with the Chargers – but not if it’s a “charade” – e.g., using San Diego as a placeholder to leverage its efforts to move regardless. Since no taxpayer money is forthcoming and Spanos has no money to build his own stadium like Kroenke does, why should fans or voters make it easier on him?

Spanos’ strategy since this saga began was to say San Diego sucks because taxpayers won’t pay for a $1.3 billion stadium that’s used 10 times a year. I don’t trust him now that he has spent the last two years defecating on San Diego.

And while I’ve financially supported the Chargers with my season tickets for 38 straight campaigns – I’d rather support a team that wants to stay than one that has had one foot out the door for years. It’s a different financial climate. At first I was in Spanos’ corner because he has tried for 15 years to get a new stadium. But his use of Mark Fabiani as his Triumph the Insulting Dog henchman during the past two years – against the leaders of the eighth largest city in the U.S. – has created a train wreck beyond repair. I would not personally deal with the man.

And voters, who have memories as long as fans – won’t be handing out free money to HIS ownership group, ever. Sh*t or get off the pot, Dean. Commit to San Diego or hold your nose and cut a deal with Stan. We know you loathe leaving California, that you will never move to San Antonio or St. Louis, so despite getting $100 million in “consolation money” from the NFL to work out a deal with San Diego – it’s not going to work until YOU yourself put up some more of YOUR OWN money – whether it’s in San Diego or in L.A.

One of the major problems here is that the referendum in San Diego
isn’t until June. Residents of San Diego should demand the it be moved up to Feb or March. Everybody in San Diego needs to rally and promote the passing of the referendum to build the stadium. Los Angeles and San Diego are not next door neighbors. The two cites are 120 miles apart. If the Chargers move, a major piece of the San Diego culture will be lost. The town would become a boring Padre only town. That would be really sad. So stand up San Diego, and insist that the referendum be moved up so people can vote and get this stadium built!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“And while there are reasons to wonder whether Rams owner Stan Kroenke would be interested in hoarding the L.A. market by driving too hard of a bargain with the Chargers now and the Raiders later, multiple league sources continue to insist that Kroenke has provided assurances that he’ll cooperate with the Chargers….”

Just like Kroenke provided “assurances” that he would never move the Rams from St. Louis.

born and raised in SD. been a chargers fan my entire life. it pisses me off how basically every chargers fan in SD is willing to forgive and forget what the spanos family has done to this city and it’s fans just so they can have football here. its obvious that the spanos family doesn’t want to be here. the spanos’s are evil people and they’ve burned every bridge with SD. i for one do not want the chargers here anymore just because of the spanos’s. honestly i pray that the raiders move to SD to spite the spanos family

Sorry ramfnamatt………That was for Kommishk . He has no clue what he is talking about. He is in for a rude awakening as soon as he and all the other King of California ( Stan ) loving , misinformed , know it all get a first hand glimpse of how the Rams organization does business. The only thing they are good at is making money from everyone else.

Spanos and Davis CANNOT afford the $550 million dollar relocation fee, along with splitting costs with Kroenke. I don’t see how the Raiders or Chargers can move. PUT THAT MONEY INTO NEW STADIUMS FOR OAKLAND AND SAN DIEGO. Any money paid by Kroenke to move can be used to help the Raiders and the Chargers.

BTW, the Vikings are moving into a billion dollar stadium this fall. Half paid by taxpayers. They were smart enough not to put it to a referendum.

The first regular season Rams game in L.A. will be huge. They should have Britney Spears do the national anthem. Hot celeberties like Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lawrence, and Alyssa Milano will be there. Gotta love the stars of Los Angeles!!!!!!!

I wonder what is going to happen to the Rams cheerleaders? Many who cheered for the St. Louis Rams may not be able or willing to move to Los Angeles. They may have to audition new girls, which is fine. Los Angeles has the hottest women in the world. No doubt about it.

SD and OAK fans I know you want your teams to stay but its time for cities to start calling the owners out on these issues. They need to make a decision. These owners are leaving these cities in limbo. I think both Spanos or Davis don’t want to move. If they did why haven’t they done it ? The NFL has given them the ok to do so. Whats the hold up ? Their threats of moving are getting old. Both cities should demand an answer. Take it or leave it. Both cities might be better off getting expansion teams with owners that want to be in those cities. If these owners cant figure out how to get rich and richer from owning NFL teams they should sell them .